A Shot To The Heart
by corporalredhound
Summary: My first Hajime no Ippo fic. Set after the events of Hajime no Ippo: Kimura vs Mabashi OVA. Moments after losing flatly for the junior featherweight belt against Mabashi-san, Kimura spends his moments in semblance regarding that failure. Until he meets a hardened female reporter waiting to take a shot towards his feelings, which he leaves unguarded...TatsuyaxMari


A Shot To The Heart

Set after events of Hajime no Ippo OVA Kimura vs Mabashi. Loner Kimura san finds himself being more at a loss than losing the Junior Featherweight Championship against the monster, Mabashi Ryo. However, a certain beautiful boxing reporter steps in to replenish his wounds in a special corner he's resting in…

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Hajime no Ippo. All rights belong to mangaka Morikawa Jyoji.

KimuraxIimura

Chapter 1: A Different Kind of Ring

His reaction was as down as his body, laying slumped at a bench outside of Korakuen Hall. Kimura Tatsuya looked like he was gonna fall, but indeed he has fallen to the mat with the last blow dealt to him by the remaining junior champ, Mabashi Ryo.

After the match, Tatsuya said farewell for a bit to Makunouchi and the others as he contempletes his defeat with showering himself to a ice cold bottle of water. Yet to his chagrin, he still couldnt believe how it went down back in his fight against Mabashi-san.

Well a defeat is a defeat, as to typical battles.

"Dammit! So close to looking at the belt with my hands...How could I have failed?!" Kimura slammed his clenched fist down, having the platform of the bench shook like an earthquake.

Kimura-san sweared a little through the whisper in his mouth, as his mouth clenched tightly within. However, just as Korakuen was beginning to get silent. A woman in her mid 20's with dark-raven hair, soft porcelain skin and sporting glasses began to almost appear to him.

She approached closer to Tatsuya, and with a slight small talk it began to strike him.

Her name was Iimura Mari, Fuji-san's partner in crime boxing reporter. She's keen on her intellect regarding the sport as well as how refine her looks are. Mari never even goes unfazed of whoever boxers she meets of the opposite sex when she goes on appointed interviews. Yet, this time she would be on a different approach regarding a defeated Kimura.

Mari then brushed aside her hair lightly and smiled, walking a little towards Kimura near the bench. "Hi, Kimura-san. I take it you lost huh? Must be tough, even coming close to the belt." She added.

The black haired Kamogawa boxer didn't flinch back to her, but yet Kimura darted a little of his attention to the bold female reporter.

"Meh, a loss is a loss. I have to take it as a blow to my stomach. We're all human you know, Iimura-san?" Kimura added. Somehow his eyes and mouth lighted up a little happier, knowing he needed female company badly. He slumped a little to the right towards Iimura, as he leaves her more space, motioning to come over.

The female snooper smiled and approaches towards the bench and sits near the downed fighter, but it was no strange for Kimura to react since he had been with a woman once, but got dumped on the day of his team match bout when said girl brought her boyfriend without knowing.

Kimura then raised his head up more towards the night sky, as the stars there gleamed at his eyes in reflection. "Hmm, I wonder how far I would go in the pro boxing world as those stars in the sky?" He pondered.

Mari then turned her face on Kimura with a light smirk. Her eyes then glistened the same reaction a little different than his.

She then reached onward to him, close enough for a hug to Kimura's side. "You know you can aim higher, if you can just put all of your effort and power to your dreams, Kimura-san." Mari said in honest tone. She then placed her hands around the boxer's waste and shoulder, as Tatsuya was dazed up in the skies.

"You're right, Iimura-san. Maybe I can..." He yet pondered in a dazed state, unknowing that Iimura was very close to him.

The raven-haired woman then went up to his cheeks close enough for an opening to kiss...In just inches apart.

All of a sudden, Kimura was right back to his self in reality.

Kimura then snapped back to his senses and looked at the woman of her own deed to him. "Oh wait what? Iimura-san..." He then was a little taken a back of Mari's sudden advance.

Mari blushed and looked away quickly from him. "Oh...It's just that...Well that's..." She added. Mari then picked up her purse with her shakened hands, and began to regain her composure with her clothes being in shambles.

"Iimura-san..." Tatsuya said in reluctance. His face blushed in light redness as if the wounds he got from Mabashi disappeared.

She turned her head a little the other way, and with a blush. "It's getting late...I have to go...More reports of your match have to be submitted to Fuji-san..." Iimura then darted lightly away from Kimura like nothing happened.

As Kimura had himself up from the bench, his face was full of questioned expression as what was going on with the bold reporter who had overcame even the strongest of Japan's boxers. "What was she doing all of a sudden...?" He pondered, as he favored his hands to his shoulder and face.

"I gotta get going as well. I'm gonna want that rest. And rest is what losers need." Kimura said in earnest, as he walks out back to his home.

But then in the back of his mind leaves a different feeling. "Mari-chan..."

Chapter 1 End


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